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Minnesota's women at the by Teri Dwyer
The roots of women's running in Minnesota go back much further than two decades. However, 20 years ago was arguably one of the most exciting times for women's running in Minnesota. Perhaps the legacy is not found in the individual achievements at that time, but rather in the fact the performances of Minnesota women runners in 1984 led the way for all of the women who would come after them. The summer of 1984 was historic for women's running in Minnesota, the United States and the world. It was the first year the women's marathon was contested in the Olympic Games. The fact those games were held in Los Angeles made it that much sweeter for American women. But before the Olympic Marathon it was necessary to select a U.S. team through the first-ever Women's Olympic Trials Marathon. Over 230 women gathered in Olympia, Washington, on May 12, 1984. They had all run 2:51:16 or faster to earn their spots at that historic starting line. Amidst the snow, cold and ice of a Minnesota winter, 12 women managed to train for and qualify for the Olympic Trials. Eleven of them would be at the starting line. The other, injured, would still make the trip to cheer on her training mates. There had been 267 U.S. women who qualified for the race; 238 of those women started the race, and, of those, 196 finished. Of the 196 finishers, no fewer than 11 were living and training in Minnesota prior to the trials not a bad statistic for a state known mostly for its cold weather. I hadn't yet moved to Minnesota in 1984 I was two years away from doing so. But over the ensuing years, I've met many of the Minnesota women who ran that historic race. I've been lucky enough to see and benefit from the legacy they created. Janice Ettle, with a sixth-place finish, was Minnesota's top woman at the 1984 trials. She was followed by Sue (Schneider) Harrison, Janis Klecker, Linda (Zeman) Laktasic, Beverly Docherty, Tina (Gandy) Kingery, Wendy (Norberg) Mirth, Sue Wurl, Laurie King, Jan Arenz Pearson and Michele Davis. Deb (Thometz) Leyden was the very talented runner who was injured and unable to run. But more important than their times or places may have been the fact they were there at all. Just to have been a part of something historic must have been amazing. I was able to catch up with a few of them although that still wouldn't have happened with most of them, had we been running! Jan Arenz Pearson knew about running marathons well before the 1984 trials. In fact, she's often been called one of the pioneers of women's running in Minnesota. She had won the City of Lakes Marathon (a TCM predecessor) in 1974 and 1975. In 1977 she was 11th in the AAU Women's National Marathon Championship the first all-women's marathon in the United States held in the Twin Cities. Also during the 1970s, Pearson won the Drake Relays Marathon, the Long Island Marathon, the Yonkers Marathon and she placed second at Grandma's Marathon in 1979. In 1980 she set an American record in the 50K. For Wendy Mirth, 1984 would end up being her first and last shot at the Olympic Trials. Although she had plans to qualify the next three times 1988, 1992 and 1996 she was plagued by injuries that prevented her from qualifying. So she stuck closer to home and ran some very fast shorter races over the years. Wirth continues to train and race, when she has time, in between homeschooling her children and watching her husband, John, run some very impressive masters races. Much of Janice Ettle's marathon glory came after the 1984 trials, but she had previously won Grandma's Marathon in 1982 (and again in 1991). In 1985 she won the Twin Cities Marathon and today, along with Janis Klecker, is one of only two Minnesota women to have won both of Minnesota's "big" marathons. But perhaps even more impressive was Ettle's Marathon Trials streak: she qualified in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000. Her 2000 Marathon Trials finish put her in an elite group of only four women who had qualified for, and completed, all five of the Olympic Marathon Trials to that date. (Beverly Docherty of Minnesota was another of the four.) In 1992 Ettle also qualified to run the 10,000-meter event at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials. Janis Klecker is a name now synonymous with elite marathon running in Minnesota and throughout the United States. Klecker was at the starting line in 1984. She went on to not only qualify for, but to win the 1992 trials in Houston, thereby earning her spot on the U.S. team headed to the Barcelona Olympics. But Klecker had also run marathons before. In 1980 she won the City of Lakes and in both 1991 and 1992 she won the TCM. She qualified for the trials again in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000. She won Grandma's Marathon in 1987. Klecker was the U.S. National Marathon Champion in 1987 and 1992. All of this was achieved while she was attending dental school, starting a career as a dentist and having six children. One woman I met early in my Minnesota days was Laurie King. In 1986, when I first met her, she was training for shorter distance track and road races. At that time, I had no idea who she was or that she had qualified for and run the inaugural Olympic Marathon Trials. But she had. And she went on to qualify for the 1988 U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials in the 3,000-meter event, accomplishing what I feel is a rare drop of distance while increasing speed at an older age. King's influence is still felt in this running community. In addition to her job as a Realtor, she's the director of the Lakeville (a southern Twin Cities suburb) Track and Field Youth Program for children K-6 of all abilities. Her son is into many sports including cross country and track and field. Her daughter, also an active athlete with a diversity of interests, participates in cross country and track and field. In spite of her very busy schedule, King continues to train and race in the Twin Cities. Sue Wurl's qualification for the 1984 trials was impressive. But perhaps even more impressive has been what she's done for the women of the Minnesota running community since then. Wurl is the president of Northern Lights Running Club, a club for women of all ages and abilities. In 1995 RRCA (Road Runners Club of America) honored Wurl with the Scott Hamilton Award for outstanding club president. She has directed women-only races in Minnesota including the former RRCA Women's Distance Festival 5K where babysitting was provided perhaps the only race in the Twin Cities to offer this service. If one word could describe Bev Docherty's running career, I might pick "longevity," "consistent" or maybe "dedicated." Docherty was there at the first Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984. And 20 years later, this past April in St. Louis, Docherty became the only six-time Olympic Marathon Trials finisher in history. Besides competing in the trials of 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004, Docherty was the National Masters Marathon Champion in 1998 and 2000, and set a single-age U.S. National Record in the 25K in 1992 when she was 32. At TCM, she has finished as high as fifth overall and at Grandma's Marathon, she's finished third overall. Docherty's story is similar to that of many women runners. She accomplished all of the above while getting married, giving birth to and raising four children, teaching high school physical education classes and coaching track and field. In between she made time to watch her children compete in their sports of choice. One of her daughters is a standout runner at a local St. Paul high school. Wonder where she got those genes? At the time of those first trials in 1984, I probably couldn't even fathom the speed at which these women ran 26.2 miles to qualify. But I can now appreciate all they gave to this sport, having witnessed firsthand the results of their efforts. And their legacy has continued as 16 Minnesota women qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2000 and another 11 qualified in 2004. The number of Minnesota qualifiers has continued to be impressive even as the qualifying times have continued to drop over the years. These women were able to follow a path carved for them out of an uninhabited wilderness by those women who went before them. The women of 1984 paved that path for us, making our journey that much easier. | |||||
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